In October, the arsenal had a few days off. Yuan Huabai began to agonize over whether she should join the factory's organized autumn outing. If it were just herself, going to see the fields after the harvest would naturally be good. But leaving her mother alone in Siping made Yuan Huabai feel uneasy.

Thinking about her friends made in the factory frolicking in the autumn fields, she felt a pang of envy mixed with unhappiness. If her mother hadn't had her feet bound, none of these problems would exist.

Yuan Huabai wasn't angry at her mother. Just as the factory night school courses taught, those women with bound feet were victims. From the perspective of victims, one must sympathize with them. But this did not mean that the practice of foot binding should be allowed to continue. The entire Northeast, and indeed the whole of China in the future, must abolish the corrupt custom of foot binding.

If not for her mother's advanced age, she could actually have her feet unbound. Thinking of this, Yuan Huabai decided to rent a tricycle and ride it to take her mother around Siping city. This was also a suggestion from the factory union chairman.

Siping's streets were no longer dirt roads. With so many factories burning coal every day, the road surfaces had been hardened using slag and crushed stone. Riding the tricycle on the road, although a bit bumpy, felt no less impressive than the grand avenues of Shanghai's foreign concessions.

Her mother was initially very reserved, even a bit unhappy about Yuan Huabai riding a tricycle. But as they passed street after street, interest began to show on her mother's face. especially when they saw a group of people in Mongolian attire driving a large flock of sheep through the street. When Yuan Huabai was forced to stop the tricycle, her mother even reached out to touch a beautiful, docile sheep beside the cart.

When the flock had passed, Yuan Huabai heard her mother ask, "Where are so many sheep being driven to?"

Yuan Huabai didn't know, and she didn't like the smell of the sheep. She made a random guess and continued taking her mother around Siping.

The flock moved in the opposite direction of Yuan Huabai, heading straight for the train station. Wu Youping watched the sheep being driven onto the train before chatting with the Mongol cadre. The Northeast bordered Mongolia, and over the past year or so, as green silage feed began to be popularized locally, Wu Youping found his common language with the Mongol cadres increasing rapidly.

In the past, Mongol tribes had to slaughter livestock before winter. Thousands of years of cruel environment on the steppe had taught these tribes that they could not have any wishful thinking. The greatest threat on the steppe was neither plague nor war. Because disease and various killings threatened the tribes every day.

The most terrifying thing on the steppe was the "White Disaster". Blizzards covered the entire steppe, and the thick snow made the herds unable to move, preventing the livestock from even eating withered grass. The hoarded fodder would be consumed quickly, and all the livestock would starve to death.

Therefore, keeping only enough livestock to continue grazing next year was the best means of maintaining one's own life. Of course, one also had to ask the best shamans to predict the weather. The predictions of those best shamans often failed, but they were always better than the herdsmen's own guesses.

Chatting with Wu Youping was a man whose name translated to Chinese as Wuyun (Dark Cloud). He stared at Wu Youping and said, "Now there are another five tribes wanting to migrate to Commander He's territory to spend the winter. They are willing to hand over half of their livestock as a stake. I've already told them, if they want to hand it over, hand it all over. Mongol men must be straightforward in their dealings."

Wu Youping nodded, "What is the mood of those princes now?"

There was some sympathy in Wuyun's expression. "Those tribes are just worried that they will be blamed by the princes when they go back next spring, that's why they are so hesitant."

If facing Han people, Wu Youping would speak more reservedly, but with Mongol compatriots, there was no need. They would deceive, plunder, and kill, but they would not stall. Wu Youping asked, "If Commander He became the greatest prince of Mongolia, who does Brother Wuyun think would support it, and who would oppose it?"

Wuyun showed no surprise at all. After a moment of thought, he answered, "Those who have used green silage won't oppose it. As for those who haven't... the princes of Inner Mongolia will probably pretend to submit, but the princes of Outer Mongolia are hard to say."

Wu Youping asked the question he had practiced many times in a calm tone, "Are the herdsmen of Outer Mongolia more loyal to their princes, or are they willing to follow the knife?"

Wuyun didn't quite believe Wu Youping. "Outer Mongolia is too poor, the pastures are very bad. Can Commander He really popularize green silage?"

"If the railway is built, it will be much better. Besides, with the Commander governing Mongolia, the pastures are all state-owned. You've seen the new mowing machines, right?"

Wuyun looked amazed. "Will such good things really be given to us Mongol tribes?"

Wu Youping asked frankly, "Brother Wuyun, are Mongol tribes Chinese?"

Wuyun thought for a long while before reluctantly answering, "Yes."

"As long as they are Chinese, Chinese people naturally help Chinese people! However, on Chinese land, if one feels they are not Chinese, then it depends on whether their luck is good or not."

Wuyun said no more. He looked at the troops responsible for security, looked and looked again.

In November, the weather was already very cold. In the Legation Quarter of Beijing, John Jordan read the report he had just written one more time, then sealed it with wax and put it into the diplomatic pouch.

The changes in the world situation made Jordan very worried. There was good news, of course; the United States joined the Entente in April 1917. After the farce of the Zhang Xun Restoration ended, Duan Qirui regained power. On the condition of permanently waiving the Boxer Indemnity to Germany and Austria, and postponing the Boxer Indemnity to the Entente for five years, China joined the Entente in July 1917.

In May 1917, the Entente felt they could win. But after the massive mutiny in the French army, the French high command had to promise the soldiers that they would no longer launch active offensives.

The Russian Tsar was deposed, and the offensive launched by the Provisional Government on July 1st completely exhausted the troops Russia could use for active offensives.

The Entente would not lose the war, but the Entente now faced a situation where they could not win the war.

With the war reaching its current extent, the Entente had suffered millions of casualties on the battlefield. If the war only ended in an armistice negotiation, neither the British nor French governments could bear such a political shock. To defeat Germany, Britain and France lacked the manpower and morale.

So Jordan didn't mention these things in his report at all, but instead raised concerns about He Rui to the British Foreign Office. He Rui had not made money through the war; Jordan was very clear on this. All the profits He Rui made were used to purchase machinery and equipment, rapidly accumulating industrial strength.

If He Rui were allowed to continue developing like this, with the resources outside the pass (Manchuria), this young General would certainly become a powerful figure in the Far East. At that time, Britain's layout in the Far East would be influenced by He Rui. Jordan suggested that the Foreign Office pay attention to this matter.

The letter took more than a month to reach London. The British Foreign Secretary frowned after reading it. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the content of this letter; what made the British Foreign Secretary anxious now was the sudden change in the Russian situation.

Since Lenin was sent back to Russia by the Germans, there had been no major moves, and the British side had always believed that Lenin had been marginalized by the Bolsheviks. However, shortly after entering November, Lenin took advantage of the Russian public's war weariness reaching its peak to launch an uprising. In one fell swoop, he overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and announced that the Bolsheviks had taken over the Russian regime.

When they first received the news, the British Foreign Office thought there might be a mistake. The Bolsheviks' strength was simply insufficient to confront the Provisional Government, and was even far inferior to the Mensheviks. That such a not-so-strong organization could overthrow the Provisional Government and control core Russian cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow was simply inexplicable.

Through British intelligence in Germany, it was learned that as soon as the Russian Bolsheviks seized power, they began secret negotiations with Germany, demanding a separate peace with Germany to withdraw from the war.

If this became true, the Entente's expectation of defeating Germany would be even harder to realize.

From the beginning of the war, Germany had fallen into the difficult situation of a two-front war. Several times when Germany gained a certain advantage on the Western Front, it was because of Russian offensives that they had to transfer troops to the Eastern Front. Although Russia lost repeatedly against Germany, it struck out with a heavy fist against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, almost collapsing it. This forced Germany to send more troops to maintain the Austro-Hungarian front.

Once the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany, Germany could transfer its troops to the Western Front. At that time, the Western Front would again be a bloodbath.

Jordan's judgment of He Rui was correct, and the British Foreign Secretary deeply agreed. The British Minister continued to search through Jordan's report and indeed found the judgment regarding Northeast industrial strength. After reading carefully for a while, the British Minister extracted a portion of the content and had his secretary perform calculations.

When the Foreign Secretary met with Minister of Munitions Churchill with a simple report, it was already two hours later. Upon meeting, the Foreign Secretary said, "We may need to let He Rui produce another batch of Russian-style equipment."

Churchill did not object after hearing this, only asking, "Which side in Russia should these weapons be given to?"

"Whoever opposes the Bolsheviks, we give to them," the Foreign Secretary answered very decisively.

Churchill thought for a moment. "Will the French pay for this?"

The Foreign Secretary did not hesitate. "If the French are unwilling to pay, we can remind them. Once the Bolsheviks make peace with Germany, they will confiscate all French investments in Russia. Even now, the Bolsheviks have already started doing so."

Churchill thought for a moment after hearing this, then sneered, "It seems those machinery manufacturing companies are going to make another profit from us."

The Foreign Secretary did not pick up on this comment, because he knew Churchill didn't care much about it. The benefits of trade with He Rui were also obvious; He Rui did not want British or French gold or currency, but ordered machinery and equipment from British and French companies. And He Rui would not pay currency or precious metals to British and French merchants, but let the British and French governments, who ordered Northeast weapons, pay the British and French merchants.

In this way, it was equivalent to "the meat rotting in the pot" (keeping the wealth within the system); the British and French governments could even collect taxes from these businesses. It was already the best of a bad situation. Both sides had done so much business, one more deal wouldn't matter.

At the same time, He Rui came to Siping again. At the beginning of the meeting, He Rui told the party and government cadres outside the military, "Within the next 48 hours, we will fully take over the Chinese Eastern Railway. The troops will disarm all Russians on the Chinese Eastern Railway. And the Administrative Department must send personnel to receive all Russian assets on the Chinese Eastern Railway."

The administrative officials and cadres, including Wu Youping, were truly surprised and delighted. Everyone was mentally prepared for the recovery of the Chinese Eastern Railway, they just didn't expect it to be launched ahead of schedule.

And Russia, through unequal treaties, possessed over a million mu of fertile land on both sides of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Plus the value of the railway itself, as well as those stations, trains, and other assets. This would be a huge income. More importantly, previously the railways in the Northeast were operated either by Russia or Japan. It was truly very unpleasant that the industrial transportation information of the Northeast was mastered by two countries.

Recovering the Chinese Eastern Railway meant that the Northeast finally fully controlled its own railway. From any angle, it was a great thing.

Without waiting for Wu Youping and other government cadres to speak, He Rui took out his pocket watch and looked at it, ordering, "Action starts now."

Xu Chengfeng and other soldiers immediately stood up and saluted, "Yes!"

Wu Youping only felt his heart beating wildly. He never expected that within just two years of joining He Rui, a part of his long-held wish would be fulfilled. for a moment, Wu Youping even doubted if he was dreaming.